Top 13 Favorite Albums of 2013 #8 - Save Rock and Roll by Fall Out Boy

Let’s be real, Fall Out Boy hands down orchestrated one of the best musical comebacks I’ve ever witnessed. They had me and my friends dancing and screaming their songs so loud, we woke our neighbors. Incredible live shows, solid TV performances, cinematic and symbolic music videos; everything Fall Out Boy did this year was on point. At the center of it all though was Save Rock and Roll. I’ll admit I was never a die-hard FOB fan in their heyday, but I had Save Rock and Roll on repeat for weeks because it is that impressive. Everything about the album shows an immense level of growth. The stylistic influences on the record are so diverse, yet Stump, Wentz, Trohman, and Hurley integrate them all perfectly into their classic pop punk sound. “Just One Yesterday” and “Where Did The Party Go” verge into old school funk and R&B territory with prominent bass lines and slick guitar riffs, while songs like “The Phoenix” and “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” boldly assert an anthemic rock and roll flair into the mix. Stump as always delivers Wentz’s introspective and candid lyrics perfectly with his signature vocals. Vocally, Stump kind of does it all on this record, from dropping into a deeper range on “Just One Yesterday” for a sexual and smooth feel to hitting high and pleading notes in tracks like “Save Rock and Roll.” He shows an impressive range that has been honed and controlled over the many years since Fall Out Boy’s beginning. They knocked it out of the park with this record, honestly. I listened to more Fall Out Boy this year than I have in my entire life.

Favorite songs:

“Where Did the Party Go?”

“Just One Yesterday”

“Young Volcanoes”